Crown of Evil
by The Other Guy
Summary: Ash and friends (including a new friend) continue their journey and discover a terrible destructive force that wrecks all of Pallet- what will they do? (This is a continuation of A New Trainer Meets an Old One)
1. The Arrival

****

The Crown of Evil

Chapter 1

The Arrival

"Mom! I'm home!!" Ash yelled as he slammed the door with all his might. Mimey appeared alongside his master, sweeping the floor as usual.

"Hello, Ash!" his mother beamed, "Hi Misty! Hi Tracy!" Then she noticed Slash. "Oh! You must be Ash's new friend! What's your name?"

"Slash," he answered, nodding, "Nice to meet you."

"My pleasure!" Ash's stomach grumbled and a bead of sweat dropped down the back of his head. "Oh," his mom noticed the sound (as well as everyone else), "You must be hungry. I'll get you something to eat."

"I have a craving for pizza," Misty suggested.

"Great!" Ash's mom answered, "That's what I was going to make. It'll be a while. Why don't you go say 'hi' to Professor Oak?"

"Okay!" Ash said as he marched out the door. After a short walk, they were at Professor Oak's lab.

"Oh, hello Ash!" Prof. Oak beamed, "Come in! I'm glad to see you!" The four of them walked in and Oak shut the door behind them. Then he noticed Slash, "Is that Slash?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Ash didn't know how to react, "How do you know him?"

"Well, I watched the Pokémon League channel," Oak answered matter-of-factly. "Slash was the champion. And I also noticed that you were second! Great job! You even beat Gary!!"

Ash swelled up with pride, "Yup! I knew I could all along! And I caught a Machoke on Victory Road too!"

"Actually, you never fought Gary." Slash muttered under his breath, and a bead of sweat ran down the back of Ash's head.

"Oh, you're right, Ash!" Oak turned to look out the window, "He's been here for a while now!" All five of them looked out the window to see Machoke wrestling Muk. "They've really become friends." Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was Mimey.

"Mime! Mime!" he said as he led them home.

"Come back soon!" Oak waved goodbye to them.

When they got home, Ash's Mother looked worried. "Ash," she said, "Have you seen this?" She pointed to the TV. The news was on. A reporter was telling about strange things happening. There were unusual tornadoes, earthquakes, bugs, rats, and other hazards plaguing cities. Ash shook his head. Looking out a window, Misty noticed a huge black thing in the far distance. Luckily, it was moving away from Pallet. Misty sighed thankfully. "Well," Ash's mom somehow seemed calm again, "You probably want your lunch." She brought them in to have pizza. Ash, Misty, and Tracy gobbled down the pizza as if there had just been a seven-month famine. Slash stared, mouth touching the ground in disbelief. He didn't think anyone could eat like that. He slowly picked up a piece and started chewing on the end, still staring at the "three little pigs".

After the meal was over, a loud knock emitted from the door. Mimey rushed over to open it.

"Oh, Brock!" Ash's mom welcomed the familiar face, "It's so nice to see you!"

"Hi Ash!" Brock stepped in and waved towards the living room. Pikachu jumped up and dashed to Brock.

"Pika!!" Pikachu leaped into Brock's arms.

"Nice to see ya Pikachu!" Brock beamed. Then he glanced over at the living room. There were Ash, Misty, Tracy, and another figure he had never seen before. "Who are you?" he asked as he walked in.

"My name's Slash," he replied as he stood up, "Nice to meet ya!"

"Name's Brock," Brock held out his hand in greeting, "My pleasure!" Slash grasped his hand firmly and they shook.

"Hey, you guys?" Slash turned to his new friends, "I'm gonna go get my Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. Wanna come?"

"Sure!" they all agreed simultaneously.

"Then let's go!" I yelled as I started out the door. Ash grabbed his new bike he had gotten that Christmas, and Slash pulled out his skateboard. With Misty, Brock, and Tracy in tow, they started out towards Viridian City.

Many ollies and wheelies later, the group arrived at Viridian, the Pokémon Center nearby. They rushed to it and went inside. Slash scuttled over to the PC and took out a laptop from his pack. He plugged a cord into the two computers and started working on it. Ash, Misty, and Tracy watched the procedure and looked as each of Slash's Pokémon were displayed. Brock was too busy over with Nurse Joy to notice what was going on. Finally, each and every one of Slash's Pokeballs- master balls, Lucky balls, Ultra balls, and even some of the balls had unique patterns. One was silver on the top with a star-like shape, another closely resembled a Jigglypuff. After all of the Pokémon were sent to the PC, the four friends looked to find Brock. He was begging to help Nurse Joy, and cried as he was dragged away by misty after being hit upside the head and electrocuted by Pikachu. They walked out of the Pokémon Center to hear a strange low rumbling noise.

"What was that?!" Misty stepped back, looking around.

"A storm," Brock noticed a dark cloud on the horizon, "and it doesn't look good. We'd better hurry if we want to avoid it."

"Go, Articuno! Go Sickle!" two Lucky Balls flew into the air and two Articuno, one slightly darker, emerged. "Get on!!" Slash yelled urgently. The Articuno zoomed towards Pallet Town and landed in front of Prof. Oak's Lab. Slash jumped off and they flew over to Ash's house. The four ran quickly inside Ash's house. Slash ran into Oak's lab after returning his Articuno. Just as he ran in it started to rain. A crack of thunder echoed and the rain poured harder than ever.


	2. The Storm

Chapter 2

The Storm

The rain pounded on the roof of the lab as Professor Oak filed Slash's Pokémon hurriedly.

"This is the worst storm I've seen in a long time!" Oak exclaimed while placing a Lucky Ball in its slot.

"Yeah," Slash agreed while petting his Bulbasaur, "I hope Ash's okay."

"I know this building will last the storm," Oak assured Slash, "it's outlasted most buildings in the worst storms and other disasters." A sudden gust of wind made a loud cracking noise from down the street. It was Ash's house, which had just been de-roofed.

"Ash!" Slash cried in terror. He grabbed a Pokeball right away. "Go, Digger! A Sandslash came out and started digging underground towards Ash's house. Slash followed, and soon reached a thick stone wall. Digger clawed at it and realized he couldn't dig anymore. He glanced at Slash, and then drilled a hole with fissure.

"Slash!" Ash ran towards the hole as Digger popped into his Lucky Ball and dove into the hole. The rest followed quickly. They burrowed back towards the lab just as Ash's house shuddered and crashed to the ground.

When they were back at the lab, brushing dirt and mud off their clothes, a worried face shown on the two adults.

"My house was one of the most stable and safe houses around here, and even it couldn't survive this storm!" Ash's mom said worriedly as she looked out the window at her home, which was now in ruins. What was left of their belongings was flying around like feathers being blown by a child.

Prof. Oak was worried now about his lab, "If your house was downed so quickly, then my lab might not withstand this storm," he gave a nervous smile, "I wonder what could be the cause of this storm. There hasn't been any this bad since anyone can remember!"

Slash pondered this for a moment and looked over at his Pokeballs, safe in the slots Oak had provided for him earlier. He walked over and studied them carefully, looking for one that would fit his needs for now.

"A ha!" he plucked one out of its socket. This one wasn't a Lucky Ball, but no one recognized it either. Seeing the curious looks on his friends' faces, Slash began to explain, "I traded for this one. The person I traded with had all kinds of different Pokeballs for different reasons. This one is the Portball. It can float about its owner and will return if taken too far from him or her. See?" He threw the ball at Misty, who gasped as it almost hit her nose, but suddenly zoomed back towards Slash and hung suspended in midair near his head. "I can also send it out without touching it, and it will sort of throw itself, like this:" Slash nodded at the ball and it rushed toward the ground, letting out a red light that formed into a Gengar.

"Wow!" Ash's eyes bulged at the Pokémon, "a Gengar!!"

"His name is Inviso" Slash replied, then turned to him, "Inviso, could you go and try to see what is making this huge storm?"

"Gen!" Inviso nodded its acknowledgment and leaped into the air and rushed towards the eye of the storm.

"Oh, yeah!" Slash caught everyone's attention as five heads turned towards his, "the Portball can also call back Pokémon who would usually be out of range, and even the Pokémon can return themselves from far away!"

Minutes later, a battered and beaten Inviso crashed in through the window.

"Inviso!!!" Slash called as he rushed over to the Gengar. The poor creature was too hurt to move, and Slash immediately rushed him to the healing center of the lab. As soon as Inviso was healed, a loud rumble was heard from outside and Slash, sensing the danger, pulled out his laptop and started typing something. As the sound got closer, Pokeballs disappeared from their slots. Finally, all the Pokeballs were safe inside Slash's Pokeball storage system in his computer, and the sound was so loud it blocked out even the sounds of Ash's yelling as the walls started to crush. Still typing away on his computer, Slash ran to his new friends, Professor Oak, and Ms. Ketchum and tossed them cords, gesturing for them to hold them tight.

As they disappeared through a wave of light, a sucking funnel of air, the indestructible lab crashed to the ground in an earsplitting crash that all of Pallet heard.


	3. Explanations

Chapter 3

Explanations 

As soon as the lab was demolished, the storm stopped as quickly as it had come. The only apparent destruction was that of the lab, Ash's house, and a little area of the viridian forest where a shack had once been. 

As Gary stared out at the mess, he pondered this curious happening. 

As soon as he had heard about the storm, he had rushed to try to save his grandfather, but he was too late. When he arrived at Pallet, a strange black cloud had just been disappearing, and no sign of Oak was left. All of Gary's pokeballs were also missing, as well as Ash's. His first impression was that this was Team Rocket's work, but a second thought made him decide otherwise. Team Rocket could never do anything _that_ good- or bad, would be a better word. But if it wasn't Team Rocket, who was it?

*** 

"Aaaawww, my head...." Ash held his aching head as it throbbed in pain from a bump and shifted some stuff scattered all over the ground. 

"You know, Slash," Misty said as she rubbed the dust and pain from her head, "You could have brought us here a little less painfully. And what is all this stuff?" 

"Heh, heh," Slash laughed nervously as a bead of sweat ran down the back of his head, "Well, at least I got ya' here. And I'm sorry it's such a mess. I-" 

"That's true," Ash interrupted, agreeing, "I mean that you got us here. Where are we anyways?" 

"Aww, nothin' much," Slash said casually, "Just in my storehouse in a part of cyberspace created by my laptop. And as I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted-" he shot a stern but friendly glance at Ash, "-I need to install "Cleanup 95", if you know what I-" 

"So basically we're inside your computer?" Ash interrupted again. 

"-Mean. Pretty much," Slash affirmed, nodding. A sudden shuffling made the three look to see Brock at a screen. 

"Oh, great," Misty said sarcastically, "Brock's gone to the Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy sites." 

"What did you expect?" Ash remarked. 

"I expected him to leave my Internet bill alone!" Slash darted over to Brock and was about to stop Brock when he suddenly stopped. "Where's Oak and Ash's mom and Tracy?" he suddenly inquired, as Brock tried to jump into the computer screen, bruising his nose and bringing him back to the real world. 

"Oh, they're right over there," Brock stated, pointing with one hand over to a corner of the storage room while nursing his nose with the other. Ash, Misty, and Slash picked their way through Slash's items, and went to visit with the other three as Brock continued looking at the Internet sites. When they got to the corner, they noticed three shelves full of pokeballs. 

"Oh!" Ash ran excitedly over to the first shelf, "You saved all of my pokémon!" 

"Yup!" Slash replied happily, "and I've got mine an' Gary's too!" 

"Wow!" Misty exclaimed, "How did you do that?" 

"Er…" Slash began, "Well… its sorta hard to explain… You wouldn't understand." 

"Are you saying I'm stupid?!" Misty growled. 

"No!" Slash jumped back, "I'm just saying that there's too much to explain right now. Right now we need to find out what that big tornado came from." 

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "that's what's really important." 

"Well, we'll need to use the internet, so someone has to kick off Brock." 

"Be glad to," Misty smiled wickedly. She walked over by Brock and literally kicked him, sending him flying through the cyberspace that was Slash's storage room. 

"Alright," Slash said as he sat down, stifling a laugh as he watched Brock nurse a huge lump on his head, to the table that his computer was set on. Ash and Misty stared, amazed, as Slash typed impossibly fast, and within seconds he had found a site reporting the storm. He read and clicked, too fast for anyone else to see, and soon he had the answer. 

"It's actually rather simple," he replied, standing up, "This is the only storm like it that has ever happened, and apparently it only affected parts of even Pallet Town. No one was hit except for Ash's house and Professor Oak's lab. So that means-" 

Misty's eyes lit up. "Oh, I see!" she replied, "the only way a storm could hit such a specific target, would be if it was caused by some sort of Pokemon." 

"But what Pokemon could do that?" Ash asked. 

"Well, it must be legendary, or maybe psychic," Slash replied. Then he gasped, a wave of realization hit him. The look of horror reflected in his eyes made Ash and Misty jump. 

"What!?" Misty grabbed his arm, frightened, "What's wrong?" 

"I know which Pokemon caused this," Slash replied, solemnly, "and I created him." 

*** 

"I'm so glad they're getting along well," Ash's mom beamed as she and Prof. Oak watched the conversation the four were having, unaware of the horrible truth Slash had just revealed. 

"Yes, but I feel something strange about that boy, Slash," Oak replied, "There's something powerful, something otherworldly about him." _Could he be?_ he thought to himself, _No, I was the only one sent here. Yet… he knows much. I must beware this boy, lest he reveal the secret…_

*** 

"So, you're telling me that you're really just a program, and that this pokémon, along with a few others, are also programmed?" Ash looked at Slash, unbelieving. 

"Yeah, pretty much," Slash replied, "You see, the person who created me is, like, a super-hacker, and he found out that, somehow, his world is watching your world, and manipulating it by programming people who influence you on your quest. When my pokémon and I were programmed in, I guess they sort of lost control, and now things are just going however they go. In fact, people in his world are probably watching us right now!" 

"You're not serious, are you?" Misty said, still doubting. 

"I am 100% serious, Misty," Slash looked into her eyes will all seriousness, "and I never lie." Misty absorbed the shock of the truth, and the two stared into each other's eyes, truly understanding each other for the first time. 

"Well, anyways," Slash lightened up, breaking the staring contest, "I guess it's time for us to get going! We've got a legendary to tame!" The three got up, Misty picked Brock up, who was now daydreaming about who knows what, and they went over to inform the adults of their discovery. 


	4. Lost Dreams

Chapter 4: Lost Dreams  
  
Oak looked over his ex-indestructible lab. Lost for words, he could only gape at the damage, remembering all the trouble he went to and all of the years it took to build his wonderful laboratory. But now it was gone, taken away by a single pokémon, when no other means had been able to tear it down.  
  
Ash's mother stood down the road, staring down at what remained of her house; Mimey stood at her side, holding the broken pieces of his beloved broom. Years of memories lay broken; the pieces lay in front of her.  
  
Ash, Misty, Brock, and Slash watched in silence, each thinking their separate thoughts on the situation. They knew what was ahead, Slash most of all, and loathed to go to it. Slash pondered the position, wondering what he could do to help repair these tattered lives. All I know is that Roodemon must be stopped, before he destroys more than property.  
  
A grumbling noise broke the silence. Three pairs of eyes whipped around to look at Misty, who had dared impede on their thoughts.  
  
"Sorry," she blushed, "I guess I went a little light on that pizza."  
  
"Light?!" Slash struggled to hold in his laughter, "You ate at least what, ten pieces!" he added. Ash and Brock exploded in laughter, Slash swallowed, trying to keep a straight face. Misty's face turned a bright shade of crimson.  
  
"I was hungry, okay!" she yelled indignantly. Slash let go of his laughter and patted Misty on the back.  
  
"It's ok," he replied, assuringly, between laughs, "I just couldn't pass up such a great opportunity!" Misty simply harrumphed and slouched down, crossing her arms and looking ready to kill somebody. Ash and Brock were still rolling on the ground and laughing. Pikachu sighed and plopped down next to Misty.  
  
"And besides," Slash had stopped laughing, "Ash really needs something to be happy about right now, you know?" Misty nodded, sighing and feeling better. Stroking Pikachu's head, she yawned.  
  
"So," she turned to Slash, "what are we going to do now? We have to stop whatever caused this mess." Ash and Brock stood up, wiping tears out of their eyes, and looked expectantly at Slash.  
  
"Well," he started slowly, "I would expect someone should stay behind and help Oak and Ash's mom. Ash and Misty immediately turned to Brock.  
  
"Oh, fine!" Brock sighed. As much as he enjoyed house work, Brock wasn't sure he wanted to leave his friends.  
  
"Then we should go see if we can't find that darn pokémon!" Slash got up, handing Togepi, who had somehow fallen asleep on his lap, to Misty. Ash and they said their good-byes to Brock, after which Slash let out Articuno. "Let's go!"  
  
The three climbed onto Articuno, Pikachu following after fighting to get away from the giant bird's enveloping tail. The icy bird then took of, the passengers waving to Brock as they flew away, out of sight.  
  
***  
  
So, Prof. Oak watched the group fly away into the evening, he has an Articuno, does he? Perhaps my suspicions were not unfounded after all. 


	5. Danger from All Sides

Chapter 5: Danger from All Sides  
  
Gary sprinted through thick Viridian trees, trying to keep up with Arcanine as they raced to Pallet Town. Articuno passed overhead, but Gary was too worried about his grandfather to notice. Ignoring the scrapes and scratches of impeding branches and leaves, Gary sped up, every second a world of worry.  
  
When Gary finally reached the wreck of his grandfather's lab, the old man was nowhere to be found. Panicking, Gary began to tear through the wreckage in search of the Professor. After many long minutes of searching, Gary's eye was caught by a shine on the nearby ground. Crawling over to it, Gary found a small old box, untouched by the devastating storm. Intruiged, Gary opened the box, whose lock had rusted off long ago. Noticing the tattered condition of the box, Gary realized that the shine had not been the metal plating on the box, but the chain of a locket inside the box. Opening the locket, Gary was dumbfounded to see himself in the picture with his family! Looking closer, Gary realized that is wasn't him in the picture, but rather a man he took to be his father. Almost a mirror image, Mr. Oak had a small beard and held a toddler with big, brown, spiky hair. His wife, a young looking woman with braided black hair stood next to him, in front of an old man and woman who closely resembled his father. Looking at the inscription, Gary nearly leaped out of his body to read "The Gotham Family," followed by the names of all of the people in the picture: "Sam, Alexandra, David, Kristen, and Gary."  
  
Gary couldn't believe his eyes. The old man in the picture, presumably his father's father, was definitely not Prof. Oak, and his mother looked nothing like him either. Also stood the fact that this was the Gotham family, not the Oak family. Pocketing the locket, Gary was about to move on to a small piece of paper entitled "Instructions for the Show," when he heard a clicking noise behind him. Turning around, Gary stared right down the barrel of Prof. Oak's handgun.  
  
***  
  
"Thanks so much for helping out, Brock," Ash's mother repeated again, piling the broken wood of the house as Mimey swept up sawdust and splinters with a duct-taped broom.  
  
"No problem," Brock replied. He almost felt relieved that he wouldn't have to face the demon pokémon, but he still missed his friends, and something felt different about Ms. Ketchum's house. He continued to pile the remaining wood from the house, then went on to salvaging any undamaged objects in the house, While Delia Ketchum picked up various broken bits of the house and put them in piles.  
  
"Mimey," Ms. Ketchum bent down to pick up the broken videophone, "Can you use you psychic powers to put those pieces of wood back together?" When Mimey didn't respond, Ash's mom stood up and turned to him. Screaming, she ran over do see him laying on the ground, his arm bent in several wrong places and blood smeared all over the back of his head. Rushing over to him, she kneeled down, only to be rushed by a large, feathery creature and knocked out cold.  
  
"Huh?" at the sound of Ms. Ketchum's scream, Brock set down a large piece of wood he had missed, then turned to hear a second scream and a fluttering of wings. "Ms. Ketchum!" he ran over, seeing her bleeding head laying next to Mimey's broken arm. "What happened?" he asked himself, kneeling down to check Ms. Ketchum's injuries. He was about to make a bandage out of a piece of his vest when a sharp pain entered his back and he fainted, in pain.  
  
***  
  
"Slash! Help!" Misty held on with all her might to Articuno's tail feathers, Togepi, screaming in her arm as the bird battled with a large, deformed, grey-feathered pokémon. The vulture-like creature lashed out, hot blood dripping out of Articuno's chest. Articuno responded with a blast of frost, stalling the evil pokémon as it flapped its wings to keep aflight. Soaring away, Articuno lifted its tail so that Slash could lift up Misty, Ash far below on his Pigeot, having fallen off Articuno seconds before.  
  
"Thanks!" Misty sighed and held tighter to both Togepi and Slash to make sure they both stayed on the icy bird. Below, Pigeot battled with the grey-feathered vulture, Ash holding on with grim determination. Slash leaned over to Articuno, who fired of a carefully aimed Ice Beam at the foul bird-creature, knocking it from the sky and leaving loose gray feathers to flutter in the air and float to the ground.  
  
"I'm glad that's over!" Slash sighed, "but still, I worry about what could be causing this."  
  
***  
  
"G-g-gramps!" Gary laughed nervously, "I d-didn't see you! What's going on?"  
  
"You've found the locket," Oak replied in a low voice, "you know too much. This ends now."  
  
"B-but G-gramps!" Gary was beginning to have trouble calling this imposter of a grandfather "Gramps" now, "I don't know anything! Honest!"  
  
"But you'll find out," Oak retorted, "and I can't let anyone know the truth of the matter. Slash has already caused too much trouble! I can't have two of you screwing up the show!" Oak cocked his hand gun, ready to fire.  
  
"Show?" Gary questioned, "what show?"  
  
"It doesn't matter to you anymore," Oak replied, "because you won't be here to find out."  
  
BANG! A shot fired, but the bullet flew harmlessly past Gary. Gary looked up to see Arcanine struggling with a pinned Prof. Oak, whose gun had flown out of his hand, out of reach.  
  
"Arcanine! You saved my life!" GFary jumped up, pocketing the message in his hand, and retrieved the gun, flicking the safety trigger and adding it to the stash in his pocket. "Ok, Arcanine, let's get out of here!" Arcanine was recalled into the pokéball, Oak left groaning on the rubble that was once his laboratory, and a Kadabra emerged, only to disappear again, along with Gary.  
  
Gary reappeared back in the Viridian Forest, thanking himself for thinking to bring Kadabra to the lab. "Ok," he said to himself, "Now I need to find Slash, so I can learn what is really going on." Taking out another pokéball, Gary let out his newest pokémon, Skarmory, and jumped on its back. "Skarmory! Let's go find Slash!" Gary called, and soon the pair were shooting into the sky to find the truth. 


	6. Forbidden Memories

Chapter 6: Forbidden Memories  
  
As Gary soared through the air, he pulled out the message he had picked out of the lab's rubble. He read it carefully, trying to decipher the letters as the paper fluttered in the speeding winds. Finally, he made out the full message:  
  
"Let's see.  
  
To "Professor Oak":  
Concerning Gary Gotham:  
DO NOT tell Gary of his heritage! He is now YOUR Grandson,  
legally and rightfully. You are to act as if you have always been his  
grandfather by blood, so he will listen to your guidance as we put  
together this show. If he finds out the truth, do whatever you must  
to stop him from revealing it or even hinting at it. If you must kill  
him to do so, so be it.  
  
Concerning Ask Ketchum:  
You have been programmed with all of the knowledge a real  
Pokémon professor would have, as well as much beyond that. Guide Ash  
to greatness, but be sure to lead him into many dangers or situations  
he will overcome to add excitement to the show. He is the main  
character, so he must always come out on top, and must find many  
dangers or experiences that will make the show attractive.  
  
You are to continue as a Pokémon Professor. The memories of all  
inhabitants of this world have been altered to make sure you are  
known. You must act the same way that they remember, and do the same  
things! Do not do anything that could put yourself in danger or ruin  
the plot! Do not fail your duty, From-  
  
-Hey!" Gary yelled and tried to snatch back the message as a huge Fearow ripped it out of his hands, destroying it. "Oh well," Gary turned back to look for Slash, "I guess I saw all I needed to see. But still, I wonder if my real family is still alive." Skarmory banked left, having spotted a large, blue bird in the distance, and the pair sped off into the distance.  
  
What is Oak's secret? That does Slash know about it? Will Brock, Mimey, and Ms. Ketchum survive? Check back soon to find out!!! 


End file.
